fruitfarming

Bananas are Australia's largest horticultural industry and highest selling supermarket product. The majority of the country's banana production is located in the north Queensland regions of Kennedy, Tully, Innisfail, Atherton Tableland, Mossman, Lakeland and Hopevale. Queensland produced more than 95% of Australia's bananas in 2014–2015. There are approximately 250 banana farming business entities in Queensland. Source: www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry...

Bunchy top of bananas in Australia Bunchy top disease threatened the banana industry in Australia in the l92Os. The virus that causes bunchy top is thought to have been introduced from Fiji in infected suckers in 1913. In Lg22 banana production in New South Wales was 433,OOO cases from about 2,226 hectares. In 1925 production had fallen to 60,000 cases and the area planted to bananas had fallen to 607 hectares due to the effects of bunchy top. It was not until the means of spread of the virus was established that the banana industry recovered. The virus was shown to be transmitted in infected planting material and by the banana aphid. In 1927, government legislation was passed that quarantined certain areas where the disease occurred and restricted movement of banana plants from these areas. This prevented the spread of the disease to new areas. This, combined with the destruction of diseased plants, enabled the banana industry to recover from the effects of the bunchy top epidemic. Source: PLANT PATHOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW John Brown www.appsnet.org/Publications/Brown_Ogle/01%20Plant%20Path...(JFB).pdf

Woombye, a rural township, is in the eastern foothills of the Blackall Range. Immediately south of Nambour, it is 85 km north of Brisbane. It is thought that the name was derived from an Aboriginal word describing the dark foliaged lilly pilly tree or, perhaps, the black snake. Fruit growing, particularly pineapples, was Woombye's economic mainstay. A local fruitgrowers' association was formed in 1898. Pugh's Queensland Directory (1904) recorded Woombye as having several storekeepers, Methodist and Anglican churches, a school of arts and a sawmill. As lumber needed for Brisbane building lessened, a new market for timber emerged with thousands of packing cases for fruit. Pineapple gluts were partially solved by Woombye's local school teacher who organized fast rail transport to carry fruit to southern capitals (1919). Two years later, by local initiative, a pulping plant was opened in Woombye. Pugh's 1925 directory described Woombye as being the centre of a large fruit-growing district, producing strawberries, citrus, bananas and pineapples in great quantities. Woombye's identification with the pineapple industry came to the fore with the opening of the Big Pineapple tourist attraction in 1971, a 16 metre fiberglass structure with an internal staircase and a lookout. It closed in 2010 when negotiations began to sell the site to the Bowden family, with plans to redevelop it to incorporate their extensive collection of motor racing vehicles. Source: queenslandplaces.com.au/woombye